Signed LOIs

Submitted by 1464 on

Here are the kids who have sent their LOIs (I will be updating as often as my work schedule allows):

SIGNED

Blake Bars

Joe Bolden (ee)

Jehu Chesson (10:21am)

Jeremy Clark (9:52am)

Amara Darboh (9:25am)

Devin Funchess (8:02am)

Allen Gant

Matt Godin (9:24am)

Willie Henry (9:10am)

Sione Houma (10:37am)

Drake Johnson (8:33am)

Kyle Kalis (8:30am)

Erik Magnuson (10:26am)

Dennis Norfleet (9:50am)

Mario Ojemudia

Ondre Pipkins (7:42am)

Terry Richardson (8:15am)

Kaleb Ringer (ee)

James Ross (8:11am)

Royce Jenkins-Stone (8:11am)

Tom Strobel (9:02am)

AJ Williams (7:41am)

Jarrod Wilson (ee)

Chris Wormley (7:26am)

 

YET TO SIGN

Ben Braden

* times denote confirmation on the Rivals pay board.  The board is paywalled, but the information is posted by the Rivals admins and in the titles of the posts, meaning that it is public info.  EE stands for early enrolee.

Coastal Elite

February 1st, 2012 at 8:20 AM ^

Just wondering, but how binding is an LOI? After signing an LOI, does a commit have to secure a release from the head coach before decommitting? Or is it just kind of a more formal nonbinding commitment?

JCM26

February 1st, 2012 at 9:31 AM ^

I thought a signed LOI was binding for the commit's full term of NCAA eligibility at a university.  The scholarship on the other hand is annual.  However if a commit desires a transfer he/she must get a release from the university.  There are a few exceptions where the commit may appeal to the NCAA directly for a release.

Coastal Elite

February 1st, 2012 at 8:31 AM ^

BTW idk about anybody else, but I haven't received any texts from the athletic department (despite @umichfootball tweeting that they've officially received several LOIs)

Six Zero

February 1st, 2012 at 8:34 AM ^

For the past several years, I wrote this whole annual National Signing Day speech to remind everyone to let the recruits have their day, don't whine about stars or height or things like that...

But I really don't feel it's necessary.  Everyone is SO amped about this class there just doesn't seem to be a need.

Tater

February 1st, 2012 at 9:01 AM ^

Don't academy "scholarships" involve a straight school for military commitment deal?  There is no need for athletic scholarships.  Therefore, they can sign as many as they want.  It might make up for almost nobody with NFL potential wanting to sign with a service academy because of the military commitment.  

Rabbit21

February 1st, 2012 at 9:05 AM ^

Yes. Everyone at the academy is on scholarship and therefore all of these guys are technically walk-ins. If a guy leaves the team his status as a cadet is unchanged. Basically leaving the academy is up to him, but his financial and academic status is the same as before. It's a lot of signees but it's not oversigning.

UMAFA08

February 1st, 2012 at 9:39 AM ^

The Air Force Academy has a preparatory school on the Academy base that takes in the neighborhood of 30+ recruits. At the prep school, the "preppies" (as they're called) play a year of football under coaches and graduate assistants who have experience with the program. They get basically an eligibility-free year in the strength and conditioning program and to learn the offense/defense. Only a handful of those recruits shown on recruiting boards will go directly to USAFA (about 25 or so). Service Academies enroll a lot of under-the-radar recruits who have minimal offers from D-1 schools. They go to service academies a lot of times for a variety of reasons, one of those being that it was their only D-1 offer. Due to stringent academic standards, they can't go after top-flight recruits. The lower-tier recruits who show up as 2-stars/no stars/don't show up at all are more student-athlete-future officer material. To offset the disadvantage of not being able to go after top tier recruits, AF goes after a lot of "athletes" (at least they did when Fisher DeBerry was there) so they more or less had options (no pun intended) of players suited for different positions. Service academies probably have players change positions more-so than any other school simply due to recruiting circumstances. Of those 47 you see committed, there's probably at least 25 or so more guys no one has ever heard of that are headed to Colorado Springs, more than half of which are headed to the prep school.

cozy200

February 1st, 2012 at 9:04 AM ^

Stars or no stars still excited about the job coaches did this year.. Not worried about guys not panning out.. Either they follow these guys and their leadership or they dont.. Ill take this staff over les miles anyday.. Go blue!

D.C. Dave

February 1st, 2012 at 9:22 AM ^

This kid's statement about why he chose Michigan may be the most eloquent I've heard, and it captured so well the perspective of a smart kid who grew up in Ohio. I'm really excited to see a guy like that come to Michigan. He's also a monster on the field. You build teams around guys like Strobel.

Six Zero

February 1st, 2012 at 9:14 AM ^

are a premeditated message by Hoke and company.  First day of the recruiting year for the next class, and they've hit the ground hard.  Watch out, Midwest and beyond... 2012 Class is excellent, and the 2013 is going to be ELITE.

D.C. Dave

February 1st, 2012 at 9:41 AM ^

Ask yourself how many teams below us view our ranking as elite? All of them. Once you get in the top 5 to 10 classes, it's real close, a matter of opinion always. Our standing tells us our class has a great chance of turning out well. There are no guarantees. Don't get hung up on numbers 1 through 5, like it means we've come up short. Our class has huge talent, character and a lot of smart students. That defines elite.